5 Small Business Hiring Trends For 2018

Thirty-one percent of small business employers currently have jobs they cannot fill because they cannot find qualified talent, according to a recent CareerBuilder survey, and 37 percent have jobs that stay open for 12 weeks or longer. Moreover, 39 percent have seen a negative impact on business due to extended job vacancies, including loss in productivity, lower morale, lower quality work, more employee turnover and loss of revenue.

The survey also reveals what small businesses are doing to overcome these challenges and attract top talent while retaining high performers. Here are 5 of the small business hiring trends to watch this year.

Seeking Soft Skills: The overwhelming majority of small business employers (94 percent) consider soft skills to be a very or somewhat important factor in determining whether or not to hire a candidate. In fact, 58 percent consider a candidate’s soft skills to be just as important as his or her hard skills.

Re-engaging Past Employees: In order to fill key roles, small business employers will seek help from those who already know their business well: 33 percent plan to reach out to former employees in 2018 to fill jobs.

Hiring for Potential: This year, small business employers will give points to candidates just for trying. Fifty-nine percent said they will train and hire workers who may not have all the skills they need, but have potential, while 35 percent plan to train low-skill workers who don’t have experience in their field and hire them for higher-skill jobs.

Boosting Compensation. Small business employers are willing to pay for what they want: More than half (57 percent) plan to increase salaries on initial job offers for new employees, and 25 percent will increase salaries by 5 percent or more. Meanwhile, 80 percent will increase compensation for existing employees, and 33 percent will increase them by 5 percent or more.